This invention relates to a collapsible boat and a transport vehicle for transporting the collapsible boat. More particularly, the collapsible boat incorporates relatively movable pontoons and the transport vehicle includes supports for the pontoons which are movable with the pontoons when the configuration of the collapsible boat changes between a wide boat configuration and a narrow boat configuration.
My U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,913, issued Jan. 30, 2001, and my U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,802, issued Oct. 9, 2001, relate to collapsible boat structures, the latter patent also relating to a transport vehicle cooperable with the boat to support the boat when the boat changes configuration.
The following United States patents also disclose boat structures which can be collapsed to provide an alternate boat configuration: U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,837, issued Dec. 16, 1975, U.S. Pat. No. 2,876,728, issued Mar. 10, 1959, U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,169, issued Mar. 20, 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,536, issued Sep. 7, 1976, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,444, issued Jul. 18, 1961.
The invention disclosed and claimed herein includes a collapsible boat having a plurality of boat deck panels similar in construction to the boat deck panels shown in my prior patents indicated above. In common with the invention of U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,802 the present invention incorporates a transport vehicle for the boat and cooperable therewith to support the boat while the boat is in wide and narrow configurations and also while the boat changes between the configurations. However, the present system is directed to a three pontoon boat and incorporates a combination of structural elements which cooperate in a unique manner to move two side pontoons of the boat relative to each other and relative to a fixed center pontoon during expansion or contraction of the boat.
The invention is directed to a combination including a collapsible boat having alternative first and second configurations, said collapsible boat being wider in said first configuration than in said second configuration. The collapsible boat has a boat deck and includes a center pontoon, a first side pontoon and a second side pontoon, said center pontoon, said first side pontoon and said second side pontoon being located below said boat deck with said first side pontoon and said second side pontoon disposed on opposed sides of said center pontoon.
The first side pontoon and the second side pontoon are selectively movable toward or away from one another and toward or away from the center pontoon, said first and second pontoons being further apart from each other and from said center pontoon when said collapsible boat is in said first configuration than when said collapsible boat is in said second configuration.
A transport vehicle receives the collapsible boat for supporting and transporting said collapsible boat on land when said collapsible boat is not afloat, said collapsible boat being completely separable from said transport vehicle whereby said collapsible boat may be placed afloat completely separate from said transport vehicle. The transport vehicle includes movable first and second pontoon supports for respectively removably receiving, accommodating and supporting said first side pontoon and said second side pontoon when said transport vehicle supports said collapsible boat and additionally includes a fixed third pontoon support for removably receiving, accommodating and supporting said center pontoon when said transport vehicle supports said collapsible boat.
The combination also incorporates mover means for selectively causing movement of said first side pontoon and said second side pontoon toward or away from each other and toward and away from said central pontoon and for substantially simultaneously selectively changing the configuration of said boat to either said first configuration or said second configuration.